Toward the end of last year, I added a short wave receiver radio for long term emergency use. One advantage it has, is, short wave cannot be regulated by our government. They can’t turn it off or manage its content. As of last year, the government can turn off TVs and regular radio stations whenever they want. They say this capability is necessary for communication to everyone in a wide scale emergency. They tested this capability and found they had a little more work to do to make it totally successful.

When I heard that last year, I thought they just took my TV and radio away from me, that I no longer controlled it and that is the truth. Right now, they are “allowing” me to have my TV and radio. If they decide to stop my use of it, they can. Well, if they can take over my TV and radio, they still can’t take over my short wave receiver capability.

Plus, let’s say power goes out for a long time for some reason. There goes your TV and radio stations when they run out of generator power. Individual short wave operators (called Ham operators), on the other hand, will still be there to communicate (using smaller battery power), what is happening where they are and they are everywhere in this world. I found I could put Ham Club in search on the internet, and there they were listed. I’m sure there are many individuals not in clubs that aren’t listed anywhere but they are out there.

Based on the above, I went on an extended search to find the best short wave receiver. The very best one I could find is:

Sony ICF-SW7600GR AM/FM Shortwave World Band Receiver with Single Side Band Reception - $146.43 (Amazon)

Look on Amazon for its facts and reputation among users. The husband of my sister-in-law is an electrical engineer and he is also a Ham operator and if an emergency happens in his city, he heads to the hospital where he is the head of their emergency communications due to his Ham capability and overall knowledge of communication and electricity. He volunteered for that non-paying job as he works as an engineer elsewhere. The first time he visited me after I bought the radio, I handed it to him to set up however he thought best. He agreed that is an excellent radio to receive short wave communication.

It makes me feel better that I can get news even if our government takes over TV and radio and if both those go down for any reason, I can still get news from Ham operators.

To experience ham radio communication, put “listen to ham operators” in internet search, click on one that comes up, and listen to operators communicating now. You decide if you need/want this radio to be independent of government intrusion in this part of your life.

ALL SOLAR CHARGERS ARE NOT EQUAL – WHICH ONES TO CHOOSE?

I have three cheaper solar chargers to charge A/AA/AAA/C/D batteries. That’s all they do – charge batteries. I have three due to the fact it takes many hours 8-10, a day, two days, based on amount of sun, to fully charge a battery using solar. It is a slow process but batteries will get charged. These cheaper chargers will not charge any device, they only charge batteries. I need them to charge batteries. Now, there are better rechargeable batteries and those are discussed later in this article.

I have books on my Kindle I haven’t read. If a long term emergency happens with no power, I’d like to be able to read those books (even short term with no power, say 10 days). I’d like to be able to charge my cell phone. Maybe it wouldn’t work, but if I can’t charge it, it’s for sure not going to work.

I have spent days searching for a solar charger that would charge Kindles. It is a morass quagmire trying to sift through the sells claims to find the truth of how powerful a charger is so it charges Kindles. I have nearly gone bleary eyed reading and dumping chargers.

If a charger will charge a Kindle, it will charge the most powerful cell phones and IPads, Mp3 players, etc., too.

There is a Goal Zero Guide 10 that is not the “Plus” and it doesn’t have enough power to charge a Kindle or higher end phone or Ipad, not sure about an MP3 player. Do not get this one unless you have a simple cell phone and also want to use it to charge batteries.

This “Plus” kit has a fold out light weight sun display. Fold it out and attach the charger unit with the four AA rechargeable batteries in it (included), and in THREE-FOUR hours in full sun, the battery pack is charged. I found none that charge this fast. Remove the battery pack, and plug the USB cable from the Kindle or Ipad or any cell phone or MP3 player, into the battery pack and it charges in just a few hours. The Ipad took two hours. It didn’t give the time for a Kindle but I expect it would be much like the Ipad. A flashlight is also built into the unit. You can use this unit to charge AA batteries and charge AAA batteries as the AAA holder is included.

When folded up, the whole sun charger is about the size of a novel. The kit consists of:

Note there is a cigarette adapter to plug in any device you now plug in to a cigarette adapter, plus there is the USB port on the AA holder to plug in devices.

You could charge a cell phone directly by the sun, bypassing the battery pack, but I wouldn’t do that. I don’t want my phone out in the sun charging as the sun tends to destroy/melt plastic. Charge the AA battery pack and that can be used anywhere to charge your devices. You couldn’t hook an Ipad or Kindle directly to the sun array as there isn’t enough power there – the power is upped through the charged batteries giving enough power to charge the Kindle/Ipad/high end phones.

As with all equipment, read the manual before you charge a device. You will find many reader comments on Amazon and a number of them are written by an employee of Goal Zero as he answers questions from customers.

This unit is so fast charging, one could use these solar panels to fast charge all rechargeable batteries one had, one set after another, both AA and AAA. This charger is a “smart” charger and will not overcharge (and ruin) your batteries.

ALL RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES ARE NOT EQUAL

I have some rechargeable batteries I’ve had since 1999. I was told I need to dump these and get new ones. That lead me to find an improvement in rechargeable batteries. The best rechargeable batteries are:

These batteries can be recharged 1,500 times. That is amazing. They have low self-discharge, will maintain 75% charge after 3 years of non-use. That is amazing. They come charged and ready to use. If you don’t need to use them now, you can just store them and know you have plenty of charge in them even after 3 years of non-use. No other battery out there is this good.

Recharge up to 1500 times Low Self Discharge: Batteries maintain 75% charge after 3 years of non-use Pre charged and ready to use 2000 mAH power No memory effect

I’m giving the url because on this one page you can order any size/package/set of these batteries. There are some places that are selling fake Sanyo batteries. If you don’t buy the batteries here, be sure to look for “NEW 1500 eneloop” to assure it is a genuine Sanyo battery. This is also the second generation of these batteries and the “1500” identifies they are the second generation ones.

If you will look at customer comments, you will see a huge amount of information from an engineer who took his time to explain these batteries and AC chargers and answer questions.

Note on this Amazon page, you can buy a combination set of “x” number of any size battery INCLUDING A SANYO AC PLUG IN CHARGER. Some chargers are called “dumb chargers” – they will keep charging a battery even after it’s charged and heat will build up and ruin the battery. The Sanyo charger offered here is called a “smart” charger and will stop charging a battery when it’s charged and heat begins to build. You need a “smart” one in order to protect your batteries. The engineer who comments explains the difference between dumb and smart chargers.

If you know an emergency is going to happen, such as a weather event, use the Sanyo AC charger to charge your batteries as it is faster than a solar charger. Use the solar one where there is no power to use an AC one.

Note there is a weird set offered concerning D batteries. I need D batteries to run my battery fans and two battery lanterns. You will see a set with two AA batteries and two empty D cases. Evidently, you install a AA battery in a D case, and it works like a D battery. I am no electricity expert and I don’t get how this works. I thought a D had more power than a AA. I am buying this set and showing it to my electrical engineer family member when he comes here Thanksgiving. He will explain to me how this works. If it is acceptable to do this and get the same charge as a regular D battery, I will order more of these. Evidently, Sanyo does not come in a regular rechargeable D.

I urge you to read about these batteries and read the engineer’s comments. There is more information on rechargeable batteries on this page than any human can stand – your brain will go into “overload”.

Solo, I am remembering, a couple of years ago, I had to buy a new griddle as mine warped - it was aluminum. I got a Lodge 10 inch griddle at Walmart. Iron is heavy and I don't do well with heavy. I can handle that 10 inch griddle but would have trouble dealing with a larger one. The edge is slightly upturned, so small amounts of fluid wouldn't flow off the griddle. It's great for pancakes and grilled cheese sandwiches, cooking eggs, etc. Anyway, Walmart did have the 10 inch.

Somewhere in these articles, there is information about a WaterBob. I’m bringing this back up due to Christmas approaching.

A WaterBob is 100 gallons of good water in a smallish box. I have such a box stored in a bathroom. If a weather event (or anything) is about to happen that would threaten having good water or cause a loss of water, I will open the box and put the food grade plastic container in a tub and attach it to the tub faucet. One hundred gallons of water flows into the container. I close the valve and it’s ready to use for drinking or cooking, anywhere I need good water. There is an enclosed pump to hook to take water out as you need it.

If you just fill your bathtub without using a WaterBob, that is not good water for drinking or cooking. That water has residuals of soap scum, cleaner, sloughed off dead body tissue, dirt and perhaps bacteria. It could be used to fill a potty for flushing but that’s about it. You need as much clean/potable water as you can get, not contaminated water.

For that almost $20, you have 100 gallons of good water. That is such a good bargain – 100 gallons of water in a smallish box.

About a month ago, my sister-in-law was here and saw the box in the bathroom. She and husband don’t store water or food and think nothing is going to happen and they live on the coast where hurricanes can come.

She asked about the box, what it was, and I told her it’s 100 gallons of good water. Her husband, the smart engineer, was listening. The sister-in-law said she wanted one of those boxes so she could have good water if they needed it. I said, “How about I give one of these to your husband for Christmas?” He’s getting the box for Christmas, along with other survival items I will give them. I have ordered and received the WaterBob. I feel better they will at least have good water.

If you don’t have a WaterBob, please get one (do it for me so I won’t worry about you, OK? ) Then, think of your friends and family you give presents to, and give them a WaterBob – a gift of life.

I made a makeshift waterbob out of a large plastic drop cloth (For painting) during an emergency a couple years ago. I got the call that they were cutting off water in 2 hours and it would be off for 24 to 48 hours and there would be a boil alert for water for the next 2 to 4 days afterword. I didn't have anything fancy. So I took a 15 x 20 plastic dropcloth ($2 or $3 bucks at walmart I believe). and placed it in the tub (Because I wanted potable water). And filled it. I cut off a piece of 1 inch plastic tubing about 6 feet long and stuck that down in and then I pulled the ends up and tied them around the tube. I was able to push down on the plastic, which pushed water out the tube, to fill a gallon bucket for flushing toiled AND still fill 2 of our 1 gallon refrigerator water containers for drinking and we used a 1 gallon mixing bowl to collect water for cooking. Luckily they had the water back on the next morning with no boil order. But we could have run quite a long time like that.

Dear MacGyver Docwatmo, glad you figured out a MacGyver answer for fast filing the tub and being able to fairly easily get the water out. Thanks for your feedback.

It's a warm, fuzzy feeling to hold that WaterBob box in my hand. The box is quite light in weight, and I look at it and think, "Wow, 100 gallons of good water right here."

The company that makes them is in Florida (can you say hurricanes) and they sell out of these every spring through summer. If I could get people to buy them for Christmas when they are in stock, people will be so prepared to have good water any time something happens to that water in the faucet.

Because this presidential election is so important and I read so many wrong opinions people have about how elections work, and many think elections are “rigged”, I am writing an article to explain how elections work.

After the Florida election problem in 2000, between Gore and Bush, the government passed a number of election laws to help standardize the election process from state to state. There are no more voting machines that create hanging chads - those were outlawed. Those machines across the country were junked, so if you read an opinion that these machines will create fraud this year, they can’t because they no longer exist.

I instructed Texas Republican county chairmen and election judges and clerks, in election law, for ten years. During the Florida election mess, people kept telling me to go to Florida and fix it. Their problem was military ballots. I did speak with their state Republican chairman and the attorney representing Katherine Harris, their secretary of state.

I’ll cover voting machines in this writing and write the rest after this one.

First misconception: Many people think voting machines are connected to the internet and someone can hank into those machines and change them. THEY ARE NOT HOOKED TO THE INTERNET. No computer hacker can hack into these machines. They are dumb machines that register votes for candidates and that’s it.

Second misconception: Someone can change the votes of the machine. No, they can’t. There are two or three (according to the company who made the machine) backup counts inside the machine and no one involved in the election can get inside the machines to change those redundant counts. Only a technician from that company can access those redundant counts.

Third misconception: They are rigged from the beginning – no they aren’t. This is how voting machines are put in service:

Each machine is checked for accuracy before it is put in service. A Republican, a Democrat (usually the county chairs), and the agency conducting the election (could be county clerk or elections administrator), meet together and a sample ballot in the machine is voted – then the count the machine did, is checked to ensure it counted that ballot correctly. If it did not, that machine cannot be used until it is corrected. Every machine is checked for accuracy.

Once the machines are checked, they are locked in a room. Only one person has a key to that room – the county sheriff. If he is on the ballot that year, the county judge has the key.

Early on election day, the machines are delivered to the polling places by sheriff deputies or other law officers. At that point, they are the responsibility of the election judge. The judge must check the machine to prove it is set at 0, meaning no ballots have been counted. People vote. At the end of election day, each machine spits out a paper calculation of the vote. That is to ensure the total right then does not change between the location of the precinct and the judge’s travel to the central counting station, and that the count doesn’t change later. A law enforcement officer must follow the judge to the central counting station to make sure there is no contact with machine totals or any documents during that travel.

There are just a few companies that make these machines, and one company’s machine may be slightly different than another company’s machine in operation and method, but each machine has backup totals inside that only a technician can get to.

Once the votes have been totaled for the county or parish, the machines are once again locked in a room for a certain amount of days in case a problem arises and a machine (or machines), needs to be opened for the backup totals.

As you can see, it would be very difficult to commit fraud with these machines. It would take numerous people in a conspiracy to defeat the process.

Next is the polling place – how election judges are chosen according to political party and the polling place process in general.

After that is voting by mail ballot which is the most likely process for voter fraud and how to stop it.

In my opinion, I believe most people in the country have no idea there are state election laws that set out how to run elections and state laws have to conform to federal election laws. I think many people believe it all happens by chance and no one is policing the election process and it’s all crooked. This is incorrect but they believe it because they haven’t been introduced to the election process as required by law. Are there bad guys out there trying to corrupt the process? Sure, but it’s difficult to do, and especially on a large scale.

The Secretary of State of every state is responsible for making sure election laws are followed in the state. The county clerk or elections administrator in every county/parish is responsible for making sure election laws are followed in their county/parish. Every election judge is responsible for making sure election laws are followed in their voting precinct. You see by this, there are laws to require order and there are people responsible down the line for following the law in the election process.

You may go to your Secretary of State website and access your state’s election laws. You may buy an election law book with all your state’s election laws in there. These laws are not hidden away, anyone has access to them.

On election night, you may go to your Secretary of State’s website and watch election results come in from every county/parish in your state. The first election numbers that are posted after the polls close, are early voting totals plus voting by mail totals. These totals are posted together as one report, in other words, they are not posted separately. Those totals are everyone who voted before election day.

The voting precinct process: There are a few states that have gone to only voting by mail. Washington State and Oregon are two. These states would not have voting precincts as everyone voted by mail. This overview is for states that have voting precincts.

Each voting precinct has a judge and an alternate judge. If the state governor who won that precinct in the last gubernatorial election was a Republican, the judge is a Republican. If a Democrat won that election, the judge is a Democrat. The alternate judge is from the opposition party of the judge. That way, both parties have officials there to oversee the election. If the judge cannot serve for some reason, the alternate judge becomes the judge.

The judge selects the election workers and it is suggested they be from different parties but they do not have to be, but the alternate judge must be from the opposing party of the judge.

When the judge checks the machines before they are used, the alternate judge is with the judge and they verify in writing the machines are set at 0.

Early voting ended before election day. A list of voters is provided to the judge by the county clerk or elections administrator and those who voted early or voted by mail are marked on that list. That is to prevent someone from voting twice. There are occasions when judges have caught voters who have tried to vote again on election day. Those people have to leave the polling place. This process assures voters are prevented from voting twice.

Poll Watchers: A poll watcher has a document supporting the fact he/she is a poll watcher and that form must be given to the judge when the poll watcher arrives at the polling place.

Laws spell out what watchers may do and may not do and when they may enter and when they may leave. A poll watcher is not allowed to question a voter or interfere in any way with a voter. The poll watcher must converse only with the judge.

Qualifying to Vote: If a voter does not have his/her voting card with him/her, the voter must provide some proof of identification the voter is the person the voter claims to be. If the voter has no ID, the voter may leave and come back with ID proof. This is not connected with the argument of requiring picture ID. The voter could go home and get a driver’s license, electric bill, water bill, or telephone bill or passport, something that identifies this person. There are numerous documents that would serve this purpose and the voter is given that list so the voter may go home and get documents. You see the sense of this: one cannot just walk in any voting precinct anywhere in the country and have no ID and vote.

If a voter does not have a voter card, but does have ID and the voter’s name is not on that precinct list, the judge may use the address of the voter and tell the voter which precinct to go to so the voter may vote. If the voter insists that is the voter’s precinct, the voter may vote a Provisional Ballot but the judge will tell the voter that ballot will not be counted since the voter is voting in the wrong precinct. This is one example where the voter must vote a Provisional Ballot, but there are other reasons why a voter must vote a Provisional Ballot.

Counties/parishes may use paper ballots for Provisional Ballots and those are put in a box with a lock. All Provisional Ballots are sealed and the Early Voting Ballot Board, consisting of a judge and Democrats and Republicans, go over the Provisional Ballots (usually the next day) and determine by using county records and the master voting list, whether a Provisional Ballot is accepted or rejected. Reviews have shown few ballots are accepted by that board as records prove the ballot should be rejected. For instance, the example above was a voter whose name was not on that precinct voting list and the address of the voter placed the voter in another precinct. The master voter list would prove where that voter should have voted and if it was not that precinct, the ballot would be rejected by the board.

States have laws a county/parish must follow with mail ballots. These laws will likely vary state to state but the system is there. This is a description of how it works in Texas and I doubt other states are significantly different. States that only vote by mail are not included in this as everyone in their state votes by mail but I’m sure they have laws that govern how to qualify those ballots to be sure they are legal ballots.

Voting by mail is the hardest way to vote. The voter must sign their application for a mail in ballot. If the voter doesn’t sign it, it will be sent back to them with another application, if the county clerk/election administrator does his/her job. That is the first thing that could go wrong for the voter. The voter must also check a reason listed for wanting a mail ballot.

Let’s talk about the county clerk/election administrator and mail ballots. When an application comes in for a mail ballot, the county clerk/election administrator checks the name with the master voting list to assure that person is registered to vote. If the voter is a registered voter, the election officer puts the name on a list of people who have requested a mail ballot. See, there is a system to be followed with mail ballots to prevent voter fraud. If the voter didn’t sign the application, it is sent back with another application.

Having a signed application and the voter is a registered voter, a ballot “packet” is mailed to the voter. If you haven’t seen a mail ballot “packet”, when the voter receives the packet, there is a white envelope inside the packet to put the ballot in and seal it. There is also a larger green envelope inside to put that ballot envelope in and mail back. On one side of that green envelope, there are instructions and a line where the voter signs after sealing that envelope. The voter MUST sign. If the voter doesn’t sign, that ballot will be thrown out as it could be a fraudulent ballot. Note: the colors I described are colors Texas uses. I suppose other states could have different colors.

On the green envelope that is mailed back with the white ballot envelope inside, there are also lines for an “assistant” to sign, also PRINT their name and print their address. An assistant is someone who helps the voter vote. Normally, this is because the voter is elderly and needs help to get this paper work done. An assistant may help only one voter unless the assistant is related to more than one voter who needs help. This is usually a son or daughter helping elderly parents vote. If the assistant doesn’t fill out every line they are required to do (maybe they leave off their address or don’t sign and also print their name), the ballot is rejected. This is another check to prevent fraud in mail ballots.

Now, it’s the day or days, to qualify these mail ballots. The Signature Verification Committee, consisting of a judge and Democrats and Republicans, are delivered the mail ballots sealed in boxes. The judge removes the locks and has a way to check that the main lock is the same one first put on the box so the box was not opened after it was first sealed before any ballots were put in the box. Normally, that is a wire lock/seal. A wire lock/seal can only be used once as it has to be broken to get it off and it can’t be put back together. That wire lock number must be the same wire lock number first put on the box. If it isn’t, that means someone opened that box and put on a new wire lock and that is a violation of law. That is another step to prevent voter fraud in mail ballots as ballots cannot be removed once they are in the box.

The ballots in their green mailing envelope (plus the administrator put the application with the mailing envelope) are taken out of the box. Now the committee compares the signature on the application with the signature on the mailing envelope. If they don’t match, the ballot is thrown out. If a signature is missing, the ballot is thrown out.

Now, the green envelopes go to the Early Voting Ballot Board that has a judge and Republicans and Democrats on it. Their job is to examine the green mailing envelopes to make sure all the required information is on that envelope, that they indicated a reason why they wanted a mail ballot on the application, and that the voter is a registered voter on the master voter list, and that voter fraud didn’t happen as a result of the green envelope information being incorrect..

If the judge has training in the law covering this, suspect ballots may be thrown out. I was the judge of the Early Voting Ballot Board and our board also verified the signatures as that is an option instead of having two committees.

Fraud in nursing homes: As an example, let’s say the person running the nursing home is a rabid Democrat or Republican, and he/she has a building full of patients who have some form of slightly diminished mental capacity or they can think fairly well but they are used to following the orders of the administrator. The administrator or someone the administrator tells to do this, goes to each patient and “helps” them fill out the ballot but they actually told/showed the patients what circles to fill in. The administrator or person he/she is using to do this, signs the green envelope as the assistant. All those ballot envelopes have that one name on them as the assistant. What is the law? An assistant may help only one person unless the assistant is related to the others the assistant helps. Well, it is most doubtful the assistant is related to say, 100 patients in the nursing home – that doesn’t happen.

Also, remember the law that says an assistant has to sign and print his/her name AND print the address of the assistant. People who do this illegal act, “helping” numerous people, don’t know the law, and they seem to always fail there, leaving off required information. They just want to get the job over with as soon as possible and don’t know jack about election law and that’s why they get caught.

The Early Voting Ballot Board tosses out all the ballots that are signed by the assistant because there is more than one or two if related, and tosses ballots where the assistant didn’t sign/print his/her name and print his/her address. There go the fraudulent ballots as the board can’t prove the voter him/herself actually filled out that ballot since the “assistant” broke the law. Those ballots violate the law and must be rejected.

I was that judge of the Early Voting Ballot Board for ten years, and Democrats hated my guts because I messed up their hold on nursing homes, threw out those ballots that violated the law, and reversed actions they had been doing illegally when they had the Early Voting Ballot Board to themselves.

Within a certain number of days, the judge must send a letter to everyone whose mail ballot was rejected and list the reason the ballot was rejected. That was not a fun thing to do, but I had to do it. We used to laugh that maybe I should leave town before the voters got that letter and not come back for a while so I wouldn’t get phone calls from angry voters whose mail ballot had been rejected.

Well, I didn’t leave town. I used every call I got to help the voter know what to do the next time so his/her ballot wouldn’t be rejected.

True Story: With this story, I don’t mean to say that Republicans are always right and Democrats are always wrong. My experience happened and I was a Republican. It could also happen the other way around.

However your political leanings are, do vote.

The Democrats wanted me out of the Early Voting Ballot Board judge job so badly, the Democrat District Attorney sent me a letter saying I couldn’t be that judge since I was married to the county chair and I should resign to save the county money from going to court about this. Someone gave a copy of that letter to the newspaper editor the same day I got the letter, and she called that night saying it was going to be in the paper the next day and did I have anything to say? She was also a rabid Democrat. I said it would be hard to resign since I hadn’t been appointed. There was silence over the phone. She said, “You’re not the judge?” I said, “No.”

The next day the headline read, “(My name) Asked to Resign Before Appointed.” I’m sure the District Attorney was red in the face.

I was appointed by the county chair (my husband) and the Asst. District Attorney said he would have me arrested if I showed up at the Early Voting Ballot Board. So, I made an appointment with the District Attorney and showed him in the law where I could be that judge as the chairman, my husband, was not on the ballot in a general election. He was elected at the primary, not the general election and this was a general election. He said he still didn’t believe I could be the judge. I said fine, but I will be that judge and if anyone shows up to try to arrest me, I will have him arrested as the judge can have anyone arrested that interferes with the judge doing her duty. He backtracked and said he wasn’t talking about having anyone arrested. I said well, you better reign in your assistant district attorney because if he shows up to interfere, I guarantee you he will be arrested. The constable was a friend and I had him stand outside the door when I convened the Early Voting Ballot Board. No one showed up to hassle me.

I will tell you this – if you are going to play a game, you better know the rules. I was playing the political game and I learned the laws to play by and I won every contest when they tried to stop me using the law, and those were several. The District Attorney also did not know the election laws.

Well, he didn’t stop. He wrote the Texas Attorney General to try to remove me (that Attorney General was John Cornyn, now our US Senator). He was basing his argument on the word “or” (as opposed to Clinton’s “is”) in a certain sentence in the law. I knew he was wrong on his premise, not just the interpretation of that word (which he had wrong).

Now, we were with the State Attorney General with this thing. This was not my desire, but I had to keep going. I wrote a “brief”. How could I write a legal brief if I wasn’t a lawyer? One does not have to be a lawyer to know law and I knew that law and I wrote that brief. I sent it to the State Elections Administrator and she called me and said she was going to use some of mine in hers, as she had to write a brief (she was a lawyer) to give to the Attorney General. She told me not to worry, that I was legally that judge. Told her I knew that.

That opinion took six months to come down from the Attorney General’s office. During that six months, the main Democrat in the county and the Asst. District Attorney at times, were writing letters to the editor about how I shouldn’t be that judge. I was sick of that and wrote a letter to the editor saying they threatened to put me in jail if I was that judge, and I was just a grandmother trying to help my county. That did it – the county turned against both of them – that is a small county and many older people live there/retire there, and they didn’t like some big ole men being unkind to a little old grandmother helping her county, much less threatening to put her in jail. I didn’t like walking by newsstands with the local newspaper headlines staring at me. Every time they could think of a headline about me being that judge, it was there. The county judge, also a Democrat, wanted me to give up as it was causing him trouble with his Democrat friends wanting him to get me out. He said if I just quit, his trouble would go away.

When the opinion came down after the six months, it was naturally in my favor as I knew it had to be. I called the newspaper editor and said my name had been in headlines for months and I didn’t ask for that, but now I wanted a headline. She said I would get it. The next day the headline was, “(My name) Right, (name of District Attorney) Wrong”. The Democrat District Attorney was defeated by a Republican in the next election. He blamed me for losing that election, but I stayed out of that, said nothing about him during that campaign. He lost that all on his own but I’m sure the county remembered what he did just months ago to a little ole grandmother helping her county.

That State Attorney General opinion with my name on it will forever be, I suppose, on the internet on the Attorney General’s website.

You know, I don’t like confrontation, I hated that whole thing, but there are times when you have to stand up and hold your ground, defend your position, or be taken down by evil.

I have read about a few cases. A few also happened in Texas I believe. Every machine gives you a summary of your ballot before you hit the "vote" button. The ones I read about didn't hit the "vote" button but notified the judge and the ballots were corrected, then the vote button hit or that ballot was cancelled since it wasn't voted and the voter used another machine. Always look at the summary of your ballot before you hit "vote". The judge will take a questionable machine out of service and have it recalibrated and tested before putting it back in service.

A polling place has Republican and Democrat workers so the process is worked by both parties to make sure everything works correctly, and if it isn't, to fix it quickly.

I've also read about people being upset because they saw a bus taking voters to the polls, but that is entirely legal. Both parties want their people to be able to get to the polls. That's called "get out the vote" and that means make sure people can get there. Each party in a county has a list of people who voted for their party in the primary and they contact these people to make sure they can get to the polls.

I will be glad when this is over. I'm sure you can guess how I want it to come out, but we may not know who won the presidential election that night. Hopefully, we will know who won other offices down the ballot.

I will be glad when this is over. I'm sure you can guess how I want it to come out, but we may not know who won the presidential election that night. Hopefully, we will know who won other offices down the ballot.

I know, me too! I am very nervous. When this is over I will either be filled with hope or pretty depressed. My husband works in the defense industry and the upcoming defense cuts will be devastating. There have already been major layoffs every year for the last 4 years.

I will be one of those people up all night getting the results but you are right it may take a few days to find out who our next president is.

I've seen elections come and go during my long life, but never has there been one like this. Most people in this nation won't sleep next Tuesday night. If we do know who won that night, be aware of your surroundings Wednesday if you leave your house. Listen to your local TV station before you leave your house. There are posts on Facebook and other net places where "bad guys" are talking of riots if Romney wins. We will all be with you Tuesday night - waiting, waiting, waiting.

Don’t freak out if you see TV reports of voting trouble in Texas. Reporters try to make a voting problem as huge as possible to hype the story and they don't know what is being done to resolve the problem.

There is a Texas State Republican Ballot Security Team keeping watch on every county in Texas today and a voting problem is reported to this team by Republican workers. I am on this team. We respond immediately to the reporting person to detail what to do.

I am sitting at my computer all day until after the polls close today to respond to voting problems just as others of the team are doing.

Don’t stress about Texas today. If you are a Democrat, we want a fair election and both parties should want that.

How do you feel due to the outcome of the election? Are you swell because your guy won? Are you depressed because your guy lost? What are you going to do about it?

You have my permission to be depressed for a couple of days if you own a business or your employment will be affected in some way due to the candidate who won.

The healthcare law will go into effect big time in 2014. Businesses with a certain number of employees or more, must provide healthcare or pay a penalty per employee. The number of employees must be reported in March of next year. That is 2013, not 2014, but the law says that is the date the number of employees must be reported. Have you noticed how suddenly since the election, businesses are closing or laying off workers or dropping working hours for workers? The list is long and more is happening every day. I was surprised when this suddenly started happening, but I knew it had to happen. Businesses knew the Republican candidate was going to repeal the healthcare law so they waited until the election was over to see who won, however, they had their plans already made to either close or lay off workers if the Democrat won. That happened, so they immediately put their plan in action to close or reduce the number of employees they have to report in March, 2013.

I hope you aren’t a casualty of your company closing or being laid off right now and I hope it doesn’t happen to you before March as this is going to keep happening until that report date.

You have probably heard that Smith and Wesson and Ruger gun companies have seen their stock go up – that started the day after the election. Gun selling companies are getting guns in and selling out fast. Ammunition is flying off the shelves. Why is this? People fear the future – they don’t know what is going to happen to this country and they are stocking guns, ammunition, water, food, the whole of what they need to survive.

Maybe you think the whole population of the country is prepared to get through an emergency. I wish that were true, but it isn’t. I saw a figure of only 1% of the population are preppers. In a country wide emergency, like an economic collapse, banks not open, etc., the vast majority of the country will be like those in the northeast Sandy hurricane large area.

Never depend on the government to save you. If those northeast people didn’t have preps to exist on their own, they had to go to a shelter and I read about one of those:

The people were in a high school shelter and they were told they had 30 minutes to get their stuff together and get on a bus where they would be taken to a hotel and they would have privacy and heat, a warm shower, and food and water. They boarded the bus and were taken to a tent city, not a hotel. That was so bad, some began to take pictures and send them by their phone. The ones running the shelter didn’t want that to happen, so they took away the connections to repower their phones. There were guards inside and outside. You had to show your ID to a guard to go outside in the cold to the potties and show it again to get back inside. It was cold inside and I saw a picture of them wrapped in blankets trying to stay warm. There were the children also wrapped in blankets.

I was furious they were told where they were going (a hotel) in order to get them on the bus, then dumped them to live in cold tents and be treated like prisoners. In fact, one person got a message out that said she felt like she was in prison.

Those people would not have gone through that if they had been preppers. The prepper “rules” I have about this are:

1. Don’t live close to a large body of water. Water wants to go everywhere and if something happens to allow that water to go somewhere else, it’s going and you can’t stop it if there is enough force behind it to make it move to you.

2. If you are close enough for a large body of water to come to you, GET OUT as soon as you know it may come where you are. Put your precious pictures and insurance papers, any other important papers, and whatever else you think is vital to you, and prepper supplies, in your vehicle, AND LEAVE. Keep cash in your house so if you have to leave, you have cash. Doing this saves your life, your important items, and your vehicle. Go where it is safe and stay there until you can go back to your house. Don’t stay in your house because you think looters may come – a dead you can’t fend off looters. Hopefully, you have insurance to replace whatever is stolen if it is stolen. Your house could also be totally destroyed and you don’t want to be in it if that happens. Some people died who stayed in their houses.

During the Ike Hurricane, some people living on a peninsula in the Galveston area, stayed in their houses and their houses were totally destroyed and their bodies were washed out to sea. No house/furniture is worth your death. Get your priorities straight – your life comes first.

Back to the election: It is over and you can’t change it. All you have control over is you. Continue to prep so your world works even if the country collapses. You see, it wasn’t up to me to have the election turn out the way I wanted. However, I knew I would be okay no matter who won. I am okay and will stay that way. You are okay too, if you have preps and keep it up. Repeat after me, “I am okay.”

Rechargeable batteries – I’ve done research on these AA rechargeable batteries that go inside an empty D battery shell. Battery companies you are used to, like Energizer and Duracell, are ripping us off. They have dropped the power of a D rechargeable down to AA power inside but are still charging us the same price of a high power D.

I’ll explain this and post an article either today or tomorrow.

There is a new bread mix in a box that requires no kneading. That’s for me. I’ll tell you about this, too.

I did research on using a AA rechargeable battery in a D shell/spacer. Remember, put a AA inside an empty D shell/spacer, using it as a D battery. I didn’t understand that concept since a D battery had more power than a AA. Well, I found out new D rechargeables from the makers you see in stores like Duracell, Energizer, Rayovac, have changed the power of the Ds and they are only as powerful as a AA inside now. From my reading, the batteries before these were more in the range of 5000 mAh. AA rechargeables are in the range of 2000-2500 mAh. You can still find the more powerful Ds but they are from more hi-tech companies and now they are expensive.

I used the cost from Amazon for these batteries so cost elsewhere should be comparable.

Energizer rechargeable D is $4.66. It is 2500 mAh inside, same as a AA rechargeable. Can be recharged only 100 times. You will find the other brands you see in Walmart, other stores, are the same thing – AA power inside.

Rayovac has another rechargeable D they call, “Rayovac Platinum Low Self Discharge NiMH D Size”. It is 3000 mAh, and can be recharged 300 times. That is barely above a AA in power. I don’t know if stores like Walmart would carry this one. The cost is $5.16 each.

If you want a high mAh rechargeable D, you have to go to other companies. I chose one on Amazon to illustrate and I’ll likely buy these (I’ll explain my choice below):

Tenergy rechargeable D is $8.49 each. “In addition to longevity, they sport substantially increased capacity over other D rechargeables (8000mAh). Very slow self-discharge maintains 85% residual capacity after 1 year of storage and 70% residual capacity after 2 years of storage.” This battery can be recharged 1,000 times. Has no memory effect.

The Tenergy ones cannot compare to the Sanyo rechargeables as the Sanyos hold a charge of 75% for three years and can be recharged 1,500 times. Sanyo, however, does not make a D rechargeable so that doesn’t serve the purpose for a high performance D.

Why do I want a high performance D rather than a AA inside a D shell/spacer?If I was using these for a child’s toy or other rather non-important devices, I would use the AA inside a D shell/spacer and keep changing/recharging the batteries. However, we are talking about an emergency and it could be a long time lasting emergency. I don’t want my battery lanterns going out fast and don’t want my battery fans going out fast. I want enough power in those to assure me I can get through a night with a fan going or that I’m not going to lose light in the house quickly with a newly recharged battery and have to keep charging those batteries that last a short amount of time.

I reject the idea of a AA battery amount of power in an important emergency device that uses a high amount of power to work a decent amount of time.

Tenergy also makes a 10,000 mAh rechargeable D. However, I found in my reading that a solar charger will not charge to full strength a battery with 10,000 or more mAh. It makes no sense to pay a lot more for that much power if I can’t charge it up to that power, and I would be using a solar charger.

FLEISCHMANN’S NO KNEAD BREAD – Shelf life one year.

Finally, a regular kind of risen bread that doesn’t require kneading. These can be found in most grocery stores. In the Walmart close to me, each is $2.28.

There is Country White, Multi-Grain, Italian Herb, and Stoneground Wheat. In less than an hour, you have bread. The only thing you add is a cup of warm water. A yeast package is included. The directions are simple: Mix, let rise, shape it on a greased baking sheet, bake at 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes and it’s done. You can also make dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls with this dough. Read the directions on the box. You can print a coupon for it (but it didn’t print for me) at: http://www.simplyhomemadebread.com/I will have an oven in an emergency, so I can make this bread. You could also bake it in a Dutch Oven if you have no regular type oven. I’m wondering if one doesn’t have an oven, what can be done on a stove top with this risen dough? Could we fry it? It’s something to think about.

My electrical engineer relative came to my house for Thanksgiving. Sooo, I have ANOTHER article to write about rechargeable batteries. When I asked him about what he thought of these D rechargeable batteries with the inside being only a AA, he said, “They are useless.” That is what you will get at your local store when you buy D Rayovac, Duracell, Energizer – useless rechargeable D batteries.

I am also researching siphon and battery pumps. Why do we need these? To get water out of 55 gallon water barrels if you have those, and I do, plus we will likely have to transfer gasoline from one container to another, or from a car into a container, or gasoline from a container into a car. Never use a plain tube to siphon gasoline with your mouth – if you get gasoline in your lung, you could die. I cringe every time I see a macho man on TV using his mouth to start gasoline flowing into a tube – invariably he spits gasoline out of his mouth. In an emergency situation, there may be no working doctor or hospital – do not pull gasoline into your mouth. Do you hear me? Don’t do it!

Plus, I am researching gasoline cans. I think I’ve found the right one to buy right now as long as they are available to buy. The company that makes 75% of all gas cans in this country, just went out of business last week – they are in Oklahoma. As you know, companies are going out of business right and left since the election or laying off many thousands of workers. I think we don’t give much thought about what these companies produce, but some of these companies are going to directly affect us and this company is one of them. The people affected by Hurricane Sandy bought every gasoline can in that area and those cans would bring a high price if one had some to sell. That’s bad enough, but now the company has gone out of business.

I know, I’m tired of dealing with these D rechargeable batteries, too. It’s not my fault it’s such a mess – battery companies are evidently cutting costs and they cut back the power in Ds to AA power. I just wish they said that somewhere on the D packages. When I read customer comments, I found customers didn’t realize that until they had bought them and now they were stuck with these low charged D batteries.

I’m not putting these low charge Ds (2,000 to 2,500 mAh) in my battery fans or my lanterns. I’ll buy the Tenergy 8,000 mAh. Those are about $8.49 a piece on Amazon, but I’ll check other places on the web for a better price. If you do that, too, be sure to check the mAh of any battery before you buy it.

RECHARGING A “D” BATTERY

The solar panel to charge AA and AAA, Goal Zero 19010 Guide 10 Plus Black/Silver Small Adventure Kit I talked about in the article about solar chargers, is excellent to charge the AA battery pack and disconnect it to charge your small electronic gadgets like your cell phone and Ipad and Kindle, but it will not charge D rechargeable batteries.

I have two small box type solar chargers that will charge various sizes of batteries including Ds but it takes from one to two days to charge a D and that is with optimum sun. I need to charge Ds faster than that. Electrical Engineer agreed that won’t get the job done in an emergency when depending on Ds for light and fans. We have to go to a larger capacity solar panel to charge in several hours, like four or five hours.

Dealing with the electrical engineer, my relative, about solar arrays went on for a few hours. I believe most electrical engineers are like he is – they want to build a charger from scratch (they want to build ANYTHING from scratch). It went something like this: “Buy this array on the net, then attach this cord you need to buy, then splice that cord and attach an extension cord, then do….. then, buy a …. and attach that, then A marine deep cycle battery….., then….., then……” At that point, I yelled, “I’M NOT DOING THAT – I JUST WANT TO PLUG THE BATTERIES INTO A DEVICE ALREADY ATTACHED TO THE PANEL AND CHARGE THE DAMN BATTERIES!” He laughed and said, “I see where you’re coming from.”

Then, we started over but he would still try to start from scratch at times and I’d bring him back to MY reality – simple, think simple. My relative is a true genius and there aren’t many of those, and he enjoys battling with my brain so we go at anything brainy for some time. We covered wattage, how it worked, and how much we had to have – it was sort of going back to how a light bulb works but we didn’t go through the life of Edison and how he developed the first long lasting light bulb (thank goodness)..

All this boiled down to, “20 Watt Solar Battery Charger for AAA, AA, C, D & 9V Batteries” (Amazon). $159.95 with $8.74 shipping. I found it cheaper at $149.95 with free shipping at .http://store.sundancesolar.com/20-watt-solar-battery-charger.html(It is Sundance that has it on Amazon but it’s cheaper on their website with no shipping charge.)

Twenty watts means this is a strong solar panel. I couldn’t find the dimensions on any website that had this panel/charger. Here is the description:

Note there is a 10 foot cable. That will allow the charger to be more than 10 feet away (that 10 feet plus the length of the cord attached to the charger) from the panel so maybe you can get the charger in the shade with that much cord. In my case, it if still isn’t long enough to get the charger in the shade, there is a small table outside I can sit over the charger to put it in the shade created by the table. Don’t want the charger to melt by being directly in the sun.

That’s it, I’m not dealing with D rechargeables again. I’ll get this more powerful 20 watt panel with charger and that will keep my lights on and keep my fans charged with high power D rechargeables.

GASOLINE CANS

Blitz U.S.A. made 75% of the gas cans in the US. They have been in business in Oklahoma for 50 years. They have closed their business. All gas cans were sold out in the northeast after Hurricane Sandy went through. You probably saw film of people lined up at gas stations with their gas cans, hoping to get gas before that station ran out. Since only 25% production of gas cans will be available in a short time, perhaps you should consider whether you need to buy gas cans.

When I was researching gas cans, I read a number of customer comments about how difficult it is now days to transfer gas from one of these cans. I read that happened due to the EPA afraid you would pour gas like a dummy machine and get it all over you and anything around you, so they made it very hard to get the gas out. I remember metal gas cans my father had – it had a cap, period, screw it off and there was the gas in the can. He never set anything on fire – not himself, not the machine, not the car, not the house, nothing. It’s amazing how much dumber we have gotten not to be able to be the master of a gas can – well, gee, the government must be right, we must be protected from ourselves.

Gas cans, then, are still available on Amazon at this time. I do not have a gas can - hadn’t thought about one. A galvanized metal 5 gallon one is in the range of $35-38.00. The plastic ones are not much cheaper than that – they are in the mid-twenties. Since that company went out of business, I think a study metal one would be the best buy – and buy a strong funnel to have available when you pour out gasoline (or buy a siphon pump listed below). I do think we will have a shortage of gas cans – 75% of them aren’t going to be made anymore in this country. Perhaps if you wait awhile, China will deliver some to us – or not.

PUMPS – FOR GASOLINE AND WATER

Gasoline: At some point in an emergency, you will likely have to siphon gas from somewhere to somewhere else. In my reading, I found gasoline cannot be siphoned from modern cars. A safety something or other has been put in the gas line to the tank in your car so gasoline cannot be siphoned out. You could siphon from older cars but not modern ones. I read a customer comment that the siphon pump didn’t work because he couldn’t get the gas out of his car tank. Actually, it was the car’s fault, not the pump’s fault.

To siphon from a tank of some kind or a gasoline can into your car, the tank/can must be higher than your gas tank for the siphon to work. All siphon pumps are like this. The receiving vessel must be lower than the giving vessel.

There are several siphon pumps with a hand pump attached, on Amazon. These range between $25-$30. Use these with a hand pump for gasoline. Be sure the pump is approved for gasoline. On Amazon, the description tells you if it can be used with gasoline. Some cannot, so check before you buy. Buy this to prevent your using just a tube and sucking gasoline into your mouth. Again, don’t do that!

There are siphon pumps that use a battery – I wouldn’t use these for gasoline. A battery is an electrical device and I wouldn’t get that close to gasoline. One spark somehow might be generated and the gasoline explodes with brilliant flame. Some of those battery ones may say it’s safe for gasoline, but it isn’t their face that will be burned off, it will be yours. You decide if you trust the battery type.

Water: To transfer water, you have to have a pumping device that has a long enough tube to reach the bottom of the water barrel. I didn’t see any using a battery that were long enough for a water barrel. There are three or four on Amazon that use a hand pump and they are $20 or less. Put “water barrel pump” in search on Amazon and you will see them. They are all for barrels with bung holes.

I don’t know what is next. I have to rest up from the face off with my beloved electrical engineer. I fed him well while he was here and we had a lovely time – he is the husband of my sister-in-law and she was laughing throughout the time we were dealing with the solar panel problem/D batteries.

Do you remember, or did you know, “survivalists” are on a list Homeland Security suggests could be possible domestic terrorists? But, on their website, they want people to store three days of food and water. If you store more than that, at what point are you suspect as maybe being a domestic terrorist? Is it three days is good, but four puts you in the possible terrorist group? You and I store way more than three days and that’s good for Homeland Security because if an emergency happened, FEMA, that is a part of Homeland Security, wouldn’t have to help us – their MREs, bottled water, etc., could go to others as we wouldn’t need their help.

I think all who read here want to be prepared for whatever happens, nature or manmade events, so we can protect ourselves from hunger, thirst, illness, and attack from bad guys if a disaster happens.

There is one group that has more protection, the best underground bunker in the country, more food, more water, and more medical help than any other in the country. There is even a surgical suite with a surgeon available. This group is so well prepared, I wonder if they are on the suspect list Homeland Security has.

We would all like to have that wonderful bunker guaranteed to keep us safe and well fed and healthy. Who would have that much money to build that? You and I did. We paid for it.

There is a tunnel under the White House that leads across the street and down the street some and ends in a large bunker. There are bedrooms, food for a very long time, water is the same, and a surgeon would be there to operate in the surgical suite if necessary. The President’s family would be protected, as would all on the “who would be in line to be president if the President couldn’t act anymore.”

The Vice President and family would be there and the Speaker of the House and family would be there. I don’t know if others down the line in succession would be there. I don’t know how many members of congress would be there. Don’t know if the Supreme Court would be there. There may be a separate bunker for congress, I don’t know.

The government thinks these people should be saved. Where are the bunkers to save the citizens? Well, citizens, meaning you and me, aren’t that important. Say what? I’m as important as the President in my world and so are you in your world.

Yes, we paid for that bunker and everything in it. And, we took our personal money and made preps for ourselves. We did just as the government has done, provided a safe place for us with water and food and other lifesaving preps.

So, continue to prepare, and if someone says you are nuts for doing that, tell them the government is the biggest prepper in the country so it must be okay for its citizens to prepare.

TAXES AND ECONOMIC COLLAPSE

This is fact: England raised taxes on the rich to gather more money to run the country. When they did that, the rich left England rapidly and did not come back. Tax collection tanked because the rich were gone. They are now trying to get the rich back.

If the Democrats get taxes raised on the rich before this year is over, I think the rich will bail out to another country before that tax rate starts. It is so easy and fast for them to leave. They have mega money and just get in their own airplane, or rent a plane, and leave. Then, the tax rate doesn’t apply to them as they have a different country address and they took their money with them.

Have the rich already made their plans to leave and they are just waiting to see if their taxes are severely raised, and if they are, they split right then.

If you had mega amounts of money and your government was about to take a bunch of it, would you take your money and split? You would still live a luxurious life no matter where you lived. Your children would inherit all your money instead of much of it going to this country.

If this tax goes through, the inheritance tax on very wealthy people is raised to 45%. That is taking almost half of your money when you die. It’s your money and you decide where it goes, not some law the President got through congress, so you leave in order to keep your money for your children.

Also, if the rich leave, and they already pay most of the taxes, tax collection will tank just as it did in England. That brings about the economic collapse of this country fairly fast. I would be concerned about next year and certainly 2014.

Watch the rich in the news. If they leave, the country is toast and you want to be ready for an economic collapse.

I have good friends that live in the Texas hill country. The husband recently had a heart cath and a stent put in, so he's not a healthy individual.

A few days ago, he took cans or something to the recycle place in their county. He uses a camera in his work and it was in the low storage place on the driver's side door. When he got out, his shoe caught in the strap of the camera and he fell flat on his face. He was in a big fancy truck so he fell some distance to the concrete. His chin had a messy cut and his glasses cut places on his face.

Someone called 911 and they x-rayed his ribs and they were bruised but not broken. His chin required stitches. He was just getting over a cold so he wasn't feeling great to start with. His day stopped right there when he fell. He will have a painful chest until the bruising around the ribs is gone.

Accidents happen so suddenly and nothing is the same in your world immediately after the accident. I think we don't give enough thought to what can happen "accidentally" and what we would do about it if there was no help available.

If no help was available, what would you have done if a member of your family was the one who had this accident and you were the only one to take care of him/her? How will you close the wound on the chin? Since you don't know if there is a broken rib, how do you handle that problem? Remember a broken rib can puncture a chest cavity/organs if the person moves around to cause that to happen if it hasn't already happened due to the fall.

Your family member is going to be in pain until the bruised area around the ribs repairs itself. What would you give your family member to help dull that pain?

And, check what is in the storage place of ALL the doors in your car/truck. Is there anything that could catch a foot and throw a family member to the ground?

How safe is your car? If you are trapped inside the car due to whatever reason, maybe a car crash, and the windows won’t open, do you have a tool that is made to pop/break the window so you can get out? If you are trapped by your seat belt and can’t get it open, do you have a device to cut the straps? I have such a tool in the storage place on both front doors. The tool will cut straps and pop/break a window. I got those several years ago and don’t remember the name/brand (I gave them to my husband one Christmas – don’t let a good survival gift idea go to waste). I will look them up – there should be some on Amazon.

Do you have some water, food, blanket(s) of some kind, in your car in case you are trapped by snow/ice or something else is wrong and the car won’t move (maybe you slid into a ditch) and you are out in the boonies where other cars/drivers aren’t around very often?

What can happen to kill you if you keep the car running to stay warm?

Do you have a charger for your cell phone in your car? You can’t make a call for help if the phone battery is dead. Do you even carry your cell phone or is it back at the house?

Think about how you would handle these various problems, and I’ll be back with some suggestions and where you can get that vital tool to get yourself out of a car.

CAR ESCAPE TOOLI found the type escape tool I have. It’s “Life Hammer Escape Hammer (Orange), 2 Pack $28.95 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping from Amazon.” Another choice is $14.95 for one Life Hammer. Made in the Netherlands.

I believe it’s a better hammer than the “Seatbelt Cutter Window Breaker Escape Tool” for $15.94 for two, or $9.95 for one. Made in China. (I’d rather give my money to The Netherlands than China especially since I think the one from the Netherlands is better.)

The Life Hammer will be easy to find as it is orange and stands out. There is a holder for it so you can mount the holder but that requires drilling a hole and I’m not drilling my car. I have one in the storage holder on each front door. You could put just one in the console between the front seats then both the driver and passenger can access the tool and that sounds like the a good place to store it.

Some are putting them in the glove box but that is too far away from the driver – I would have a problem reaching that far, then have to open the glove box.

Some are putting it under the seat but no way am I doing that because it could move about plus my arms are barely long enough to reach the beginning of the underneath of the seat.

One other way is to get heavy duty Velcro that has stickum on the backs of both tapes and stick one part where you want it, then stick the other part on the hammer and attach to the strip you stuck on the car. One fellow has his that way and it was stuck on the left side below the steering wheel and that’s a good place to store it, just reach forward and rip it off the Velcro. That sounds ideal – one movement and it’s in your hand.

It seemed most customers bought these after they heard of someone dying because they couldn’t get out of the car. The driver either drowned or burned up because they couldn’t get out.

VERY IMPORTANT:This tool, like all the rest, WILL NOT BREAK A WINDSHIELD. That glass is different than glass in the doors. One strike from the tool on a side window and the glass breaks but that will not happen to the windshield.

CELL PHONE:You can’t call for help in your car if you don’t have your charged cell phone in the car. I don’t use my cell phone except when my sister-in-law calls my cell because I don’t give that number out. I only use it if I have to call outside my area code. It stays plugged in and I wouldn’t remember to take it with me when I left the house. So, I stuck a post-it note on the back of my front door that says, “CELL PHONE” so I’ll see it before I go out the door. That way I get it. If you have this problem, too, stick a note on the door. I do have its car charger in the car (a lot of good that would do me if I didn’t have the phone with me). It will be charged when I leave the house since it stays plugged in.

FIRST AID KIT:You need a first aid kit in your car. I went to Walmart some months ago with the express purpose to buy travel sizes of various products like shampoo, soap, hair spray, etc., thinking of those as barter items. Among the travel size items was a Johnson & Johnson first aid kit in a small plastic box (it’s 3 ½ inches square and 1 inch deep). They were so cheap, I bought several, thinking of those for my purpose and for barter. I put one of those in the car glove compartment. I haven’t even read on the plastic box to see what is in it. I now have one in my hand and it says on the front, “Goes with your gym bag, backpack, luggage, purse.” It says there are 12 items in the box. The contents are: 2 hand cleansing wipes, 4 first aid gauze pads, 2 flexible adhesive bandages (3/4 inch x 3 inch), 4 flexible fabric adhesive bandages (5/8 inch x 2 ¼ inch), and one durable plastic case. There is extra room in the case to add several more items. I need to put an envelope of Celox (blood stopper) in there. That little case is not much, but it is something if you have nothing now and it’s cheap and in the travel size items at Walmart. A large size first aid kit in the car is great if you can do that.

The accident that happened to my friend caused me to think of a body wrap to help prevent the body from moving. If you recall, he had bruised ribs but you wouldn’t know if the ribs were broken. A fairly tight body wrap around his rib cage (but not tight enough to push broken ribs around) would tend to stop the body from twisting/moving to prevent further damage if ribs were broken and we know now, the area around the ribs on one side was bruised, no broken ribs, so a wrap preventing movement might/should lessen his pain.

Several days ago, I almost threw away multiple body wraps and bandages of all sizes. I have been “cleaning out” to get rid of things I don’t need anymore. I have a stack of sheets representing many years of buying sheets and I don’t use most of these anymore. Right now, they are stacked on a bed for me to go through to get rid of the ones I will never use again – except now I’m not throwing them away.

Those old sheets can be cut into any size bandage/arm wrap/leg wrap/body wrap, I might need. Easy to cut an arm sling when needed, elevate a leg or arm and use a strip of sheet to hold it up. I’ll put these in the back of my closet so they will be there for a short time/long time emergency.

I’ll also put one in my car along with a pair of cheap scissors and DUCT TAPE so I can cut what I need if the occasion arises. In my friend’s case, I would cut a wide strip, the length of his chest and long enough to wrap around him, to lessen movement, and I would secure it with the duct tape.

CUT CHIN:There is no doctor, no medical clinic, so you have to do something about this cut chin. I would use pressure to control the bleeding chin until I could get the patient home. I’ve said before I’m not stitching a wound as it would be too painful without anesthetic. A chin is not a straight line exactly, there are curves. First, of course, clean the wound of blood, use hydrogen peroxide if you have it. If the chin is still pouring blood, put Celox on it to stop the bleeding. If you don’t have Celox, order it right now. I have spoken about Celox in another article, saying where to get it. After bleeding is controlled, put on antibiotic ointment, and in this case, I’d use Steri-Strips to close the chin wound (pull the two sides of the skin together) as those strips are flexible and will move with the chin. Put on enough strips to seal the cut from end to end well. A solid bandage can be put over the wound to keep out dirt, etc., and the solid bandage should be taken off after a couple of days so air can get to it to dry it out.

The other method I have to close a wound is a stapler (I think that would be awkward on a chin and believe Steri-Strips would be best). I don’t think I have written about a sterile stapler and a staple puller and no, it’s not your usual stapler you use at home. Here is stapler/staple puller information:

There are multiple surgical sterile skin staplers and staple removers on Amazon. Put in “surgical skin stapler” in their search and they will come up. Each one is in a sterile package and the stapler must be thrown away after one use as it will not be sterile if used again. One stapler is about $7.95. You may also buy a kit of multiple staplers plus a staple remover included. There are also single staple removers. You may use the remover over and over. Determine which stapler and remover is right for you.

PAIN:A decision of yours would be what pain medicine to give your family member with a painful cut chin and painful chest. You have some kind of pain reliever now, over the counter and maybe you have a prescribed pain reliever for a family member. Consider the family member’s age and amount of pain and safety of the medicine for that individual before you make your choice of a pain reliever. Tylenol and aspirin and Naproxen (like Aleve), are over the counter meds to have in your pain reliever arsenal.

WATER, FOOD, BLANKET(S), CARBON MONOXIDE:What is in your car to save your life if you find yourself in a desolated area and the car won’t run for whatever reason? I have a backpack that stays in the car trunk (Life Gear’s Wings of Life), that has water, food, a thermal blanket and many other items needed in such a situation. In this accident case, the thermal blanket could be used if the family member in the accident, was cold or in shock.

Thermal blankets are cheap - keep enough in your car for each family member to have one. These are on Amazon: “ER Emergency Ready Thermal Mylar Blankets”, Pack of 4, $5.76. Here is the description: (84 x 52), “Provides compact emergency protection in all weather conditions by reflecting back and retaining 90-Percent of a survival victim's body heat. Can be used to prevent and counter hypothermia by reducing heat loss from a person's body. Can be used to cover injured victims in order to help reduce shock. Can be used in a hot environment to provide shade as a shelter barrier. Reusable, waterproof and windproof.”

See, leave off buying a large Starbucks café latte coffee with extra foam, for one day and you will likely have the $5.76, to buy FOUR blankets. Sorry, I just took $5.76 from Starbucks, but they can afford to lose that money and you can’t afford to be without a blanket for each family member. If you feel badly for Starbucks losing this money, the next time you go to one, thank them for your thermal blankets.

WHAT CAN HAPPEN TO KILL YOU IF THE CAR IS RUNNING TO STAY WARM?When your car is traveling down the road, carbon monoxide gas is coming out of the tail pipe - that carbon monoxide is moving away from the car as it goes down the road. If you are stranded and keep the car running to have the heater on, and there is a leak of carbon monoxide in your exhaust system, you can end up with that in your car and it is odorless, you can’t smell it. You will get a headache and symptoms get worse from there. Therefore, have a window cracked to let in fresh air. You will be tempted not to do that as that air is cold, but it’s important to protect your life and anyone else in the car, so deal with a little cold air when the car is stopped but running for a length of time.

I recall a true story about being poisoned by carbon monoxide getting in a car and the situation was this: The fellow was stuck in a snow drift and he kept the car running to stay warm. The snow drift outside the back of the car was right up to the exhaust pipe and that forced the gas to drift forward, the only way it could go and it got in the car. That was like running your car in a closed garage. It was an unlikely scenario but it happened. I think I remember the man died. He couldn’t smell the gas and didn’t know that was happening to him.

A NATURAL GAS SAD STORY THAT SAVES LIVES NOW:Natural gas has no smell, either. However, now a smell is infused into the gas so one can smell it. In 1937, I was four years old. I heard my parents talking about an explosion that just happened at New London School in Texas which was about 15 - 20 miles from our house. My parents put me in the car and we went there to see what happened. I remember seeing clothes hanging on fence posts as we got within a few miles of that area. The closer we got, the more clothes I saw everywhere. That part is what I remember – all those clothes. There had been a gas leak but no one knew the gas was building up since it had no smell. A huge explosion happened and 425 students and teachers were killed – the school was laid open, destroyed. There is a large monument in New London with all the names of the children/adults killed that day.

It is that explosion that caused a smell to be put in natural gas. If you have natural gas in your house, those children/adults being blown up is the reason you can smell that gas.

I have company until January 6. I'll be back after that with articles. Do you think your gun could be taken by the government? Are you worried about that? Do you think a "gun free zone" has no guns in it? Do you have a so called "military style" weapon? Do you have a cartridge/clip that carries more than ten bullets? Do you like Englishman Piers Morgan? Did you recently buy more ammo and/or guns?

I just added a red laser to my handgun. Now, I know exactly where that bullet is going to hit the target. Lasers are swell.